Not sure if this really helps our chances considering we only have room for 1 more player correct? And I would assume that's for Treadwell whenever he decides to hop on and finish the class before the season even starts.

Oversigning is when you allow more kids to sign Letters of Intent than you have openings. If nothing changes between now and February (no one leaves the team, no one is kicked off the team, no one suffers a career-ending injury, etc), and Michigan signs this number of kids, THAT would be oversigning.

Don't get me wrong, it's not good to give a kid the "sorry, I know you committed a while ago, but there is no room at the Inn" speech in January (still an unlikely scenario, but possible), it's much better than the "sorry, I know you enrolled already, but there's no room" speech.

Agreed, and we've seen it here before. There have been a couple of "mutual parting of ways" where a worse recruit decommits towards the end of the recruiting cycle in the past few years. These arent perfectly ok, but they're a hell of a lot more ok than forcing a kid out on NSD or once they enroll. Then again, we said the exact same thing last year and it worked out just fine. On this issue more than anything else, trust in the coaches.

It definitely wasn't one of the 2012 recruits. By all accounts, Standifer had an academic eligibility issue (he hadn't taken Spanish or something). Pharaoh Brown was highly regarded and took a trip to Oregon, so the coaches started planning as though he wouldn't come. Caleb Stacey decommitted because he wanted to stay closer to home (Cincinnati), and then he immediately committed to the University of Cincinnati.

I think the redshirt juniors provide the coaches with a lot of flexibility. Sure, there are some guys you don't want to lose there, but if you don't end up with as many spots as you expected, there's nothing sleazy about congratulating those guys on finishing their Michigan degrees and wishing them the best. I can't imagine they were promised five years on scholarship.

I always thought Stacey was like that, but that ones debatable to say the least. I do remember a few under RR (though I don't remember names at this point) but nobody was upset about it. Just the coaches telling a player that they're not really interested any more and the player moving on.

I think Rodriguez was guilty of this. Honestly, it was one of the things I didn't like about him. There were guys who said that Rodriguez & co. completely cut off contact at some point after their commitments, and then Rodriguez said something like “sometimes, a guy does you a favor when he decommits” at his Signing Day press conference. (That's quoted from Varsity Blue.)

I really don't think we've seen this under Hoke, though, and it would seem out of character for him.

we don't really know what was said up front and during the process either. If open and honest communication occurred, then a late recruiting period mutual parting of ways is an acceptable outcome.

I always thought the Newsome departure just before Tate committing, and the Beaver departure just before Denard committing were suspect activity., but it is still not Alabama or LSU level activity.

The other thing is, doing this hurts a coaches recruiting cache at area schools in the future. People remember when so-an-so got committed to a scholarship offer and then got screwed. Coaches and players will be a lot less receptive after that (unless you are Saban or Miles and can wave around recent NC rings).

Tony Drake, for one, stated that almost all communication was cut off and he felt he wasn't wanted anymore so he decommitted and moved on.

That being said, these are 16 to 20 year old kids we're talking about. My wife is 29 and she changes her mind about things on an hourly basis for reasons only known to her. The same goes with these kids. In Terrence's case the desire to play in a more competetive environment may just not be there anymore. Good luck to him, he will be missed.

There's more to it than that. You have to weigh the costs and benefits of using that extra scholarship year on one of those guys versus bringing in a new recruit a year earlier (2013 instead of 2014). If Matt Wile turns into Remy Hamilton this year and you're faced with a decision between one more year for Gibbons versus a Leon McQuay or Derrick Green, then Gibbons' performance might not even be relevant. The same goes for any of the fifth-year senior spots. Most of them are likely to be big contributors in their fifth years, so you'd like to keep them for that last year, but you have to consider what's in the best long-term interests of the program.

I was just listing possibilities, but Khoury leaving shows being in the 2-deep is not automatic to returning for a 5th yr. Khoury played a position of limited depth just like Q. Some kids move on with their life like Khoury. If Cam Gordon is not a starter, he may not decide to come back or be asked back. There is going to be a lot of competition at LB in 2013.

And I don't see it as a stretch for Gibbons not to be back. Yes, he was our starter last year, but he is still an average kicker with limited range (2 years ago he looked like he would never hold on to the job). Maybe Wile or Broekhuizen passes him on the depth chart this fall.

but even Terrance Robinson was a ST contributor. It is hard to predict how competition will shape up over the next 6 months. If Gordon or Q get passed on the depth chart by a freshman or sophomore, they may not be back.

Also just wondering, when was the last time Michigan had a 5th year scholarship kicker?

I don't get those assumptions either. Then again.. Anyone getting buried on the depth chart by the frosh could buck. If Pipkins, Godin or Henry unseat Wilkins, Ash or Q they could easily transfer. Same goes for Poole with the linebackers they have coming in. Mike Jones definitely won't be asked back with Bolden in AA. I would think either Furman or T Carter could transfer if Wilson impresses. Honestly Ricardo Miller could transfer any day. We'll see anything can happen.

Brian prophesied his return and his coming would hail the destruction of Ohio State and Sparty, end the war, bring freedom to our people.

But Cam is a back up to a guy a year his junior, who next year will have another recruit for a back up, and a load of linebackers to flip around if someone gets hurt. So not out of the question. And Q is back up in a thin group? The depth chart has him as one of 6 back ups at his position-

In econ many years ago, I learned that airlines overbook flights because of the expected number of people who will be late or cancel their reservations, etc. There are times that more people than expected show up and that's when they offer airline credit for voluntarily hopping on a later flight. It's just a strategy utilized to maximize profit.

Same thing for us, we want to maximize our talent pool with the expected number of attrition seen from year to year. We just don't want to be in the airline situation mentioned above come signing day.

If he actually went into a random person's dorm room and stole their laptop, then I'd say it's unlikely he stays in school. UM has a no tolerance policy for that sort of thing, and Hoke has shown a pretty tough stance wrt punishment thus far. Also, his incident happened immediately before the coaches (reportedly) bumped the class to 25. That could be for many reasons, but it's possible that it's not a coincidence.

Sorry but on what basis does UM have a "no tolerance policy" for stealing laptops? You know we haven't expelled a student since the 1970s, right?

Maybe you were referring to the football program / this coaching staff, in which case I don't know that any of us can say for sure, since they have yet to deal with an analogous situation. But coming from someone who worked in UM's disciplinary office for 2 years, I can assure you that the University as a whole has nothing even close to resembling a "no tolerance policy."

Based on everything we've seen, this coaching staff isn't the type to offer more LOIs than they have spots or "roster manage" beyond letting kids who are down on the depth chart leave/kick out kids who are convicted of crimes, which is standard operating procedure for every college team.

Sure, if they sign 4 more kids to LOIs and suddenly Dileo is getting medical'ed, then I'd be suspicious. But right now, the staff seems to know how big a class they need, and they'll hopefully sign those kids.

This is what interests me, if we weren't recruiting him anymore, I think the coaches would have told him by now (like we did with O'Daniel). This makes me think that either 1. we are taking two more players or 2. Either Green or Treadwell could take the last spot (meaning that it's not guarenteed for Treadwell or even for a WR)